I had the pleasure of appearing as a guest speaker at the Independent Media class taught by Jeff Cohen at Ithaca College. One of the students posted about it:

“My independent media professor invited William A. Jacobson, creator of conservative blog “Legal Insurrection,” to our class a few days ago. My own personal politics aside, it was refreshing to see a speaker with a different perspective than 95% of the Ithaca College campus welcomed into a classroom. The stereotypical Conservative is often looked at negatively, many for good reason – take Bill O’Reilly or other FoxNews stars, for example. The heart of Jacobson’s discussion was not to stuff his politics down our throats, but rather to explain what it takes to start up and maintain a successful blog, regardless of the content.

I was personally pleasantly surprised by Jacobson, who also serves as a law professor at Cornell University. I had checked out his blog prior to the class. He is open and transparent about his viewpoints and holds nothing back when discussing politics. For a journalist, I know less about politics than I maybe should. That is not to say that I’m completely ignorant, but I have a lot to learn and am quite undecided about several hot button issues. I find it helpful to look at issues from all perspectives, so I am grateful for the opportunity to learn from someone with a different viewpoint than many people I am surrounded with every day. I very well might vehemently appose what Jacobson is saying, but at least there is someone out there, who I can respect, saying it.”

Update: Some more from students in the class:

Todays Class (written before the class)(“I’m really interested to she how our class goes today with blogger:Prof. William Jacobson. I find his opinions to be sometimes to me completely illogical and I don’t understand how any one can fell that way. Politics aside I find the journalistic integrity he employs is of a super high standard.”)

Professor Jacobson Response (same student as prior link, but after the class)(“Professor Jacobson’s talk was very interesting. He definitely covered all of the things that I was questioning in the way that his blogs function.”)

It seems the only qualification to rise in MSM is a hatred for conservatives. One day you may grow up to be one (like many of your unhip parents). Russert was one of the last MSM characters I saw calling it like it was. May he RIP.